Chapter 144 – Ice Staff Siblings
Tang Wulin was unaware that his current thoughts and ideas were laying a foundation for his future. A path never traveled before was quietly opening before him thanks to the power of the Golden Dragon King.
“Careful!” Xie Xie’s warning jolted Tang Wulin out of his exciting train of thought. He instinctively responded by activating his Bind skill to send out a mass of Bluesilver Grass at the lean leopard in front of him.
Xie Xie reacted in a flash, his Light Dragon Blade streaking across the sky and slashing the ten-year soul beast.
“Sorry everyone, my mind was wandering just now,” Tang Wulin bluntly apologized while a cold shiver ran down his spine. This is still the spirit ascension platform. Instead of being preoccupied by my ideas, I must focus on absorbing the remaining energy here. That should be my main goal for now.
Zhang Yangzi gently chuckled. “My mind was wandering just now, too. After all, the events just now changed the way we think about the spirit ascension platform. In any case, our harvest this time is already quite good. Even if we’re to be eliminated, it’ll still be fine.”
Tang Wulin sternly said, “Don’t think like that. Since we’ve been blessed with luck this time, we have to do our best to secure the opportunity and not let it slip away! Otherwise, we’d be letting down the expectations of the Heavens. Everyone, let’s all do our best.”
He’d prepared these words to say at the moment of their departure. With their distracting thoughts dispelled, Tang Wulin took the lead once again, ready to intercept any potential dangers.
Soon, a roar announced the presence of a monstrous, six-armed python ahead of them.
“A hundred-year Six-armed Fire Snake. Everyone, be careful,” Tang Wulin grimly ordered.
Suddenly, a bright, white light flashed from far ahead of them and heavily wounded the Six-armed Fire Snake. A bizarre ice wheel fluttered in the breeze, its points dripping with the blood of the soul beast. Although the Six-armed Fire Snake couldn’t be considered a powerful soul beast, especially with regards to its defense, it was still shocking that it had been cut up so easily and quickly by that ice wheel.
A figure with three soul rings underfoot appeared before them, quickly absorbing the spirit energy of the fallen Six-armed Fire Snake.
It was a youth, about seventeen or eighteen years old. Two yellow soul rings and one purple soul ring coiled around his body, identifying him as a Soul Elder. In his right hand, he held a snow white staff which was topped by an icy, blue crystal. His expression was cold and arrogant, and the yellow aura around him was similar to that of the five students of class zero.
Powerful!
The five teammates could already tell how powerful this Soul Elder was just by his aura.
Not only that, he actually wasn’t alone!
A girl seemingly around the same age as Tang Wulin’s group popped her head out from behind the youth. Her blue hair was styled in twintails, and she looked as if cut from jade. Her beauty was stunning and far exceeded that of Gu Yue’s. In her hand was a staff nearly identical to the youth’s, only hers being a bit smaller. A single yellow soul ring flickered beneath her, illuminating her frightened expression in the face of such killing.
The male youth’s gaze immediately fell upon the students of class zero. When he saw the rich aura of spirit energy surrounding them, his eyes brightened a bit and he started taking large, decisive strides towards them.
Tang Wulin’s eyes narrowed as he signaled with his left hand to those behind him.
“Withdraw from the spirit ascension platform voluntarily and leave behind your spirit energy. Then you’ll be spared from some pain,” the youth with the ice staff stated, as if it was only natural.
The corner of Xie Xie’s lips curled in disdain. “Is he some sort of soul beast in human form? Apparently, this human-shaped soul beast can even speak now. It’s done a good job evolving.”
The youth’s eyes sharpened as a cold light flashed through them. He pointed his ice staff at Xie Xie, and immediately, an ice wheel shot straight toward him.
Xie Xie wouldn’t take it lying down, as he swiftly responded with a slash of his Light Dragon Dagger, shooting out a Light Dragon Blade.
Tang Wulin and the others didn’t make a single move. Their opponent had three soul rings, with one of them even being a thousand-year soul ring, so they couldn’t underestimate his strength. It was best to let Xie Xie probe him first.
The ice wheel flew through the air, slashing in a bizarre arc and easily avoiding the Light Dragon Blade. Then, it sped up, transforming into a whirlwind that appeared in front of Xie Xie in a flash.
It changed directions and sped up! Such formidable control!
This was Tang Wulin’s first impression. Xie Xie was also given a fright, but he quickly adapted. He simply lowered his body to let the ice wheel fly over him.
Just as he was about to launch his counterattack, Gu Yue shouted, “Let me try!”
A sparkling icicle shot forth and hit the ice wheel precisely on its core, smashing it into pieces.
The youth was stunned for a brief moment. The weakest point of his ice wheel was the center, but it was extremely difficult to hit it due to its rapid spin and his precise control. Moreover, his opponent had accurately hit it with a mere icicle. This keenness of eyesight and level of control couldn’t be considered weak at all!
Gu Yue walked forward from beside Tang Wulin, who was shocked to see that Gu Yue didn’t just have one soul ring anymore, but two!
That was right, during the battle with the Man-Faced Demon Spider, Gu Yue had made a breakthrough! Although none of them knew what her spirit soul was, there was no doubt that it had already provided her with her second soul ring.
A pair of yellow soul rings twinkled on her body, making her seem even more imposing than before.
Even with a single soul ring he had been able to defeat a two-ringed Soul Master, as well as causing the twin-souled Xie Xie to cower in fear. Just how powerful was she now that she had two soul rings and had absorbed all that spirit energy? It was impossible for Tang Wulin to even guess.
“Let me take a shot at him,” Gu Yue told Tang Wulin.
“Okay!” Tang Wulin understood her intentions; she wanted to verify what her current strength was, now that she had two rings.
The youth looked at Gu Yue and frowned. After seeing her attack with an icicle, he had come to the conclusion that she had a martial soul similar to his own.
It was normal for Soul Masters with similar martial souls to feel an affinity with each other.
“Ice attribute?” the youth asked.
“You’ll find out in a moment,” Gu Yue indifferently said as she raised her right hand to shoot another icicle while a bright light suddenly exploded out of her left hand.
The youth was blinded and cried out in alarm.
Bright Light technique—an application of the light element.
The youth unleashed his strength. Despite his temporary blindness, he wasn’t disoriented. He raised the staff high, releasing a series of dazzling blue lights from its peak. Everyone was bathed in the light, including the young girl beside him.
The icicle rapidly dissolved in the light, leaving not even a drop of water.
Although Gu Yue’s teammates had also been bathed in the blue light, they were further from the source and were able to vaguely make out the youth’s shining, second soul ring.
Taking advantage of her opponent’s momentary blindness, Gu Yue activated both her soul rings. With the activation of the first, it only seemed as if her aura had grown stronger, but when the second began to shine, they couldn’t sense any changes to her.
In a silver flash of light, Gu Yue suddenly appeared behind the youth. Countless lights covered the sky and flew forth, some of them attacking, while some shot straight into the sky instead.
There were fireballs, wind blades, icicles and rocks. Water, fire, earth and wind. She brilliantly controlled all four of these elements simultaneously. In another moment, the sky was painted with these elemental colors.
Is she even human? The youth had nearly recovered from his blindness when he heard the girl beside him cry out in fear, “Big brother, big brother, I can’t see anything. What do I do? I can’t see.”
“Don’t panic. Just close your eyes, and you’ll be able to see again in a few moments.” The youth’s vision had already returned, only to find that his opponent had disappeared, leaving her teammates behind.
Xie Xie kindly pointed behind the youth who automatically turned his head to look and was greeted with the sight of the magnificently brilliant Gu Yue.